How hard is it. It’s in my mom’s buick century.
3.4L? Lower intake manifold gasket? If so:
Go to dealer to buy the kit. I can link You to part number & howtos if need be.
Basically You take apart the top end of the motor.
Takes ~5 hours (on a GA GT).
Rinse, and repeat in ~30k miles.
:furious:
same problem with the 3100/3.1L … PITA, and huge problem areas. Use lots of sealant.
so should i tell her to take it somewhere instead of me doing it?
yes.
I’ve had no problems… YET. Thank God.
Well, I did mine on the Grand Am 1.x years ago.
How mechanically inclined are You?
From what I understand You “should” be able to do it. Not hard, just a PITA.
i am very mechanically inclined. but i don’t want to fuck around with it a ton. especially if it’s going to leak…
I was lucky too.
If you have a weekend to burn… go for it. Your not gonna bang it out in a night.
Is it really a 3.2?
my mom said it was a 3.2… so, could be anything.
prolly a 3.1 lower engine mount top engine mount rotate for ward. get haynmes manual its not rocket science
leave the lower mount, remove the top mount, alternator and intake and the washer fluid res., and possible the PS pump… just move it out of the way. Replace the WP while your at it, they are like 30 bux.
The rest of it would be digging in from the top.
Don’t break this part. PITA
I thought You were… so whats the problem?
Like i said, 5 hours. No big deal.
Jesus christ, here:
LOWER INTAKE MANIFOLD GASKET:
The lower intake manifold is fairly common on Grand Am’s. GM even released a TSB. Sometimes it leaks very slowely for a long time and sometimes it happens real quick and gushes alot of coolant out at once. It can either leak externally or internally. Externally just makes a mess. IF IT LEAKS INTERNALLY DO NOT DRIVE YOUR CAR AND GET IT FIXED. You can tell by pulling out your engine oil dipstick. If it looks milky, you have coolant in your oil. Coolant in your oil will destroy your bearings which costs ALOT to fix.
Parts you need to fix this include upper intake maniold gaskets, lower intake manifold gaskets, valve cover gaskets, 1 distributer plug gasket, and two EGR gaskets. If you go to the dealer and ask for the intake manifold gasket kit they usually know exactly what you’re talking about and will get you everything you need. Note GM made some new intake gaskets that are entirerly black and have matal rings in them. Make sure you get these.
As far as I’m concerned this is an easy job, just time consuming. That’s why it’s so expensive. It is very labour intensive. You have to take off the entire top half of the engine and gut all the externals around it just to get at the lower intake manifold. Here’s the run down on how to replace them, but please only attempt this if your are mechanically inclined:
- remove intake tube attached to throttle body.
- remove EGR
- remove coil pack and spark plug wires.
- remove upper intake manifold
- remove front valve cover
- remove alternator
- remove serpertine belt
- remove power steering pump (you will have to unmount the engine to get at some of the bolts holding this on. Make sure if you support the engine using a floor jack that you use a block of wood or you WILL CRACK YOUR OIL PAN)
- remove accessory brackets
- remove rear valve cover
- remove lower intake manifold
- loosen rockers and remove push rods (keep them in order)
- remove distributor dummy shaft to replace O-ring
- reassemble and follow the coolant filling procedure
- label everything and keeps similar items together so you know where it all goes
- get the torque specs for the engine. It is very important that everything be tourqed back to factory specs or you will be doing this job again
- everything except the block is aluminum so absolutely no over tightening or you will easily strip something in your engine. Then it’s time for tap and dye
- if a bolt starts going in crooked, take it out. DO NOT FORCE ANYTHING IN. Go slowely if that happens. Once again, alluminum. If you don’t do it right and watch yourself, you’ll have to break out your tap and die set
TONS of pics can be found at http://www.grandampc.com/leak courtesy of djrkd
fucking jack
lol… I think SilverGTP has the manual for the 3.1, we didn’t use it much.
these also came with like 30 different motors… so it depends on what yr it is.
just because you have a mechanical engineering degree doesnt make you mechanically inclined 
there is no wya that takes 5 hours…and jack in those pics you have way too much crap removed for doing the job. this can eb done in 3 hours if you take your time. less than two with air tools. not too bad at all. yes ps pump must be taken off. i do 2 or three of these a week at basil.
those pics are from when I did the head gaskets…
pieces of shit. g/f sold hers after it fucked up a second time.
any chance of warrenty/recall work?
its easy if you are used to that kind of stuff, there are a few tricks to keeping these from leaking. I would take it to the dealer and have them slam it out for you otherwise it is another hassle you will not want to deal with. There are some tools you will need to do the job correctly and the first person who says you need a 3/8" impact gun to tighten the rocker arms should be fucking shot.